


Blue Lips, Blue Veins

by pigdeon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Shatt, hint at shatt, klance, lance may or may not take keith to the beach because he's never been, lmao what even is this, the war may or may not be over and everyone is safe and happy, they may or may not be going home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 11:47:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11379564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigdeon/pseuds/pigdeon
Summary: Blue, the colour of our planet from far, far away.





	Blue Lips, Blue Veins

Lance stared at the ceiling. The war was over and had been over for a week and he was still here.

Still in space.

 _Stuck_ in space.

The place he wanted to go so badly when he was younger. Why did he want to go so badly? It's sad up there. _Lonely_. Lance's homesickness had become worse and it was hard to keep a secret. If the others notice, they've said nothing.

All he wants is to go home.

  _Home..._

\--

When Lance stepped into the room, the last thing he expected was to see it. To see the familiar blob of blue in front of him. A warm feeling pooled inside him; behind his eyes. No one noticed he was there yet and Lance was glad. Tears silently rolled down his face at the sight of-

Of home.

The sight of his planet. His brothers and sisters and parents from far away. The beach, rain, homemade meals, everything.

Coran was the first to notice his presence but not his tears.

"Ah! Lance! We were waiting for you," Coran announced. The other paladins glanced behind, waving slightly as Lance came into the room more, wiping his face.

"Hey guys!"

Allura faced the paladins.

"Now that Lance is here, I have some news," She smiled, glancing at Lance. "I've noticed some of you feeling a bit homesick. Now that the war is over and Pidge has found their brother-"

"Who's being lazy as fu-"

"Language Pidge!"

"- _anyways._ The war is over, Matt is back and so is Sam. I thought it would be good to bring you home again. It's taken a while because of how far we have traveled and it was difficult finding your galaxy. But, if you can't see, behind me is Earth."

Lance's tears started to return and this time someone noticed. It was Keith, the last person he expected to notice.

"Um, Lance? Are... are you okay? We thought you'd be happy."

"I- I am!" Lance wiped his eyes. "I am.. I'm so happy. Keith? Have you ever been to the beach?"

The question took the red paladin by surprise. "No, why?"

Lance's smile grew. "I'll take you. Right after I see my family though. In fact," He faced the rest of the group, backing up a bit. "We should all go! To the beach! It'll be fun and good after being up here for so long. No stress, just.. a time to relax. To be... to be _happy_."

Hunk ran to Lance, enveloping him in a hug. "Aw man, you're gonna make me cry! Tell Sarah we say hi when we're back, okay?"

Sarah, Lance's sister and Hunk's favourite of Lance's siblings. She of course would be upset after the disappearance of both Lance and Hunk.

"Of course."

\--

Keith stood awkwardly behind Lance, not having anywhere else to go. They waited anxiously for a few minutes after Lance knocked on the door.

A small girl who looked similar to Lance opened the door; her dark brown curls swirling around her shoulders. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the two boys.

"L-Lance?" She started to sob as Lance scooped her up in a hug. "Mama! It's Lance!"

Now a middle aged woman came rushing to the door. She took a good look at Lance before taking the girl with one arm and reaching up to touch his face with the other. Lance seemed to melt into her touch.

"Mama..." His voice was soft and broken. "I've been gone a long time, I'm sorry, but I'm back now."

There was a hint of a smile in his words and his mother put her hand down. She looked at Keith.

"Who is this?" Were her first words since arriving at the door. "Is he a friend? Why isn't he with his family?"

Keith stepped up.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. You are Lance's mother?" She nodded. "I'm a friend of his, my name is Keith. I'm not with my family because-- I don't have one. Someone I met at the Garrison was close to me and before I met Lance and the others, he was the only family I had. He has people to help so I can't be with him right now."

"The others?" Mrs. McClain put the child down. "Go play with Lukas, okay Sarah?"

  _Sarah._

Now it was Lance's turn. "Hunk and Pidge. We've been on this journey the entire time, saving the universe if you'd believe that. We can talk more in detail later, mama. Right now I want to see the others and rest. It's been a long time since either of us got a good nights sleep."

Mrs. McClain stepped aside, letting them in the house.

\--

For the first time in a long time, Keith slept well. And so did Lance.

\--

For the first few days back, they mostly stayed in and rested. All of the paladins kept in contact through their old, forgotten phones. Allura and Coran lived in a small apartment with Shiro for now, but once they got the hang of things on Earth, Shiro would move out and get a place with Keith. Hunk lived with his moms and sister and decided to go to a normal college for something science-y and tech related. He came by once to say hello to Mrs. McClain and the rest of Lance's family. Keith started to feel less awkward around the McClain family, more at home.

_Home._

A word he did not use often when describing the places he's lived. It never felt right. Not until now, at least. When Shiro moves into a new place, Keith will come with. It hurts a bit to think about for some odd reason, he thought it wouldn't matter. But Lance's sibling all welcomed him with open arms and his mother and father accepted him into the family almost immediately. Everyone here cared.

Cares.

About _him_.

It was enough to make him want to stay. To talk to Shiro and Lance, to see if he could. But he couldn't. This wasn't his family. What if Lance didn't want him here? What if he told Keith to live here until Shiro was good out of pity? What if he-

"Keith?"

Keith blinked a few times before sitting up and looking at Lance who was beside him on the bed.

"Yes..?"

"Remember when you said you've never been to the beach?" The boy cleared his throat and sat up, moving in front of Keith. "Well you see, I was talking to my mom while you were napping and she mentioned a trip to the beach this weekend. I was thinking... you would come with us? It'll be fun! Trust me. I'm going to ask the others to come."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two. Keith thought about it. It _did_ sound fun. Really fun, actually.

"Yeah," he looked up at Lance. "Yeah, of course. I'd love to."

The smile on Lance's face was stunning and an unfamiliar warm sensation pooled in Keith's stomach.

\--

The beach looked beautiful. There weren't many people besides Lance's family, himself, the paladins (+Allura and Coran), and a small group of people off to the side. It didn't make sense. It was a beautiful day! Oh well, more beach for Lance!

He was the first one in the water. He started out walking into the water at a slow pace. When he was about waist deep, he turned around and saw the others joining in. A few people gave disapproving looks at the young siblings tackling each other in the shallow water. Everyone was in at least waist deep except.. except for Keith.

"Keith! Come on!" Lance waved at Keith, but he only took a few steps farther.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he approached Keith.

Keith looked startled. "Nothing's wrong. I just.. can't believe I'm here. You know, alive? Back on Earth?"

The boy chuckled halfheartedly. There was a far away look in his eyes as he stared out at the horizon. The waves rippled toward them peacefully and it was a gorgeous sight.

"Hey Keith? We can think about that later. Right now, let's enjoy the beach."

A small smile grew on Keith's face as Lance grabbed his hand and led him farther out into the water. It would have been cute to see if Lance hadn't then thrown Keith into the water.

"Lance!" He stood up out of the water and Lance just shrugged. "Oh, you're on!"

Lance shrieked when Keith dunked him into the water as well. Both of them fought playfully in the water, Hunk and Pidge joining in too. Shiro, Allura, and Coran decided to leave them be and get ice cream instead.

"Lance! Keith!" Lukas yelled from on the beach. "We have to get going soon! Mama says!"

"Oh jeez, time flew."

The sun was setting and Lance rushed to get his sisters old camera. His older sister Giselle had given it to him for his 15th birthday after he had a sudden interest in photography. Keith stood on the sand, smiling softly in the direction of the sun in disbelief. He had his black shirt back on and his hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Before he could notice, Lance took a sneaky picture.

"Did you guys have fun?" His mama asked in the car. "I heard it was Keith's first time at the beach."

"Yeah we did! It was awesome!"

"It was pretty fun." Keith blushed a bit and looked out the window. "Thank you for bringing me."

Mama glanced back at the boys with an unreadable expression. "Of course. You're basically family now!"

\--

Keith pulled a small, brown journal out of his back pocket and began to write. He wrote about his childhood, the Garrison, finding Blue, Voltron. Everything came out in a flow. He was distracted by his writing. Lance walked into the room and sat next to him.

"Shiro's here."

"Oh," Keith closed the journal, not looking up to meet Lance's eyes. It had been a few months and Keith completely forgot he would have to leave. "Tell him I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Yup." As Lance stood, he noticed a familiar journal in Keith's hands. "You kept that?"

"Um, yeah.."

The journal was a gift from Lance. He had somehow found out his birthday (probably through Shiro) and wrote it on his calendar so he wouldn't forget. At some point they were visiting another Space Mall and it seemed like something Keith would like.

"I'm writing about our journey. About Voltron," he said standing. "Allura, Coran, all the others. Finding Matt and Sam, defeating Zarkon, the Blade of Marmora, the Galra, the Alteans, aliens we met, everything. Maybe one day I'll write a book. A book about this and I'll sell it and everyone will think it's fiction."

"That's a great idea!"

He was about to continue but Mrs. McClain was calling for them. Shiro waited for Keith at the end of the stairs.

"Hey."

"Hey, Keith. I got an apartment not too far from Allura and Coran in case they need anything. There was one for rent down the hall." Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go home."

_Home._

But that isn't home, is it? It never will be home; not for Keith at least. The only place he had known to be home was here, with Lance and his family. Hell, he was part of their family now.

"Okay."

"Okay."

Keith turned around to say goodbye and what he say made him want to leave less. Sarah and Lukas were clinging onto Mrs. McClain's legs and he was sure Sarah was crying. She had grown close to Keith and it hurts to leave her. Giselle held her daughter Grace and looked down at her sadly.

But Lane's face hurt the most. He was looking straight at Keith with watery blue eyes and a big smile. It was clear that he was upset, but he didn't want to show it. Keith knew that feeling all too well.

"I'll miss you."

\--

It was three years later when Keith and Lance moved in together. They moved into a small cottage by the beach. Hunk came over often with Pidge. Matt had moved in with Shiro a few months after Keith had moved out. Allura started her own clothing line and was doing quite well on Earth. Coran looked after her still, but did his own thing. He worked at a zoo near by, loving being near the animals. Lance and Keith opened up a café in town and grew closer and closer over the years.

Three months after the café opened, Lance proposed to Keith.

Keith said yes.

\--

On their two year anniversary, Keith released his first book. He called it "Voltron: Defender of the Universe". Next was a memoir and then "Voltron: Legendary Defender". He started a blog, too.

 

Life was going smoothly for the paladins. It was getting hard to believe how long they were up in space; hard to believe they were ever gone. Once in a while they went back up there to see Shay and to visit planet they've been to previously.

\--

"Shh! It's gonna start soon!" Mama sat in the front row, watching Lance's smile grow as his fiancè walked down the aisle.

Finally Keith was in front of him. Lance took his hand and smiled brighter.

"You look amazing."

"You do too."

Eventually they got to the 'I do's and Lance's mother was full out sobbing. Lance put his forehead against Keith's afterwards and whispered:

"I remember the bonding moment."


End file.
